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Our invitation to premiere MAANGAMIZI - THE ANCIENT ONE at the 1998 Zanzibar International Film Festival was from the outset gilded in an air of magic. At the time of the invitation, the cast and crew of MAANGAMIZI - THE ANCIENT ONE had only just returned from shooting in Tanzania and the new footage still needed to be incorporated with the 1994 footage. Neither Director, Ron nor Martin felt that MAANGAMIZI would be able to compete at the Festival, however since the Festival was viewing both films and videos on a video format, we were encouraged to complete the film on video and submit it as a video entry.
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From that point on we began working at a frenzied pace on the AVID, a video editing system that we originally had no intention of using. The first 94 minutes of a rough cut had been edited on an upright Moviola. The AVID technology allowed us the speed we needed in getting a video cut of the film. On top of that, we were caught up in a whirlwind of travel details that only became solid at the eleventh hour.
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Arriving in Zanzibar after two days of traveling with only one hour to get settled before our premiere screening was challenging. And as most independent filmmakers will tell you, it is not an unusual occurrence. We had made prior arrangements to have the MAANGAMIZI cast and crew join us for the opening night ceremonies which was a huge event.
The setting for our premiere screening was kismet. In an open courtyard that overlooked the Indian Ocean under a starry sky, the festivities began with the fanfare of introductions and speeches by invited guests and dignitaries. As the time came for MAANGAMIZI to show, the sound bolted and was lost. Somewhere along all of the wiring stretched out over the courtyard, there was a short. After an hour of working on it, the short was discovered, but some of the momentum had been lost, and we were left to once again, FLOW.
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